Been a few days since my last update. It was a rocky weekend for sure. For no reason other than I had a mild pancreatic attack. What’s that about, you ask? About two’ish years ago I had a painful attack in my solar plexus region. It was awful. Couldn’t sit, couldn’t stand, couldn’t get comfortable. I thought immediately it was my gall bladder. We went to the ER and to my surprise not gall bladder. They ran a series of blood work and found my pancreas enzymes to be elevated a wee bit. On a scale of 60, they were at 11. Hardly anything to get upitty about. But, the reality is, in my family, any numbers mean something.
My mother died from pancreatic cancer and if I look at her history, I have learned some things. In her early 50’s she started having little “attacks”. She would always say she had “diverticulitis”. Years later my gastroenterologist would share with me that that is actually an infection that they treat with antibiotics. So, that clearly isn’t what was going on. I think she was having pancreatic attacks from that point forward, but they were not monitored. Anyway, after the second attack and ER visit, and them sure I was drug seeking, they gave me some pain meds and sent me to see a gastro-doc.
She ran a bunch of tests, came up with low numbers (which, as I said before, runs in my family — my mom scored 83 / 800 on the endocrine cancer scale when she was in stage 4). Now, am I losing my mind here, do I think I’m dying? No, of course not, but there is a genetic component to pancreatic cancer and I am careful to avoid the things that trigger attacks (high fatty meats, alcohol, smoking, etc.). I’m not a purist. I have the occasional steak. I enjoy a glass of wine here and there, but overall, I watch myself.
This weekend was one of those weekends, though. I’m finding a pattern where I have some level of attack about every six months. I’m hoping this changes as I continue to lose weight, but for now, it’s what’s happening. And it came just in time for Super Bowl 51. Ack. I started having discomfort on Friday morning and by Saturday night I had to take a pain pill to get some sleep. No fun. Sunday morning I had some chicken broth, jello and well, that was that. We spent SB with Randi’s family while Frank was helping her son build his new gaming computer.
I was feeling a little better, yet a little faint by the time dinner rolled around so I indulged in the goods they’d prepared. Completely off eating plan, down to the bun, but oh it was so good. And again, if I’m 80% compliant I’m feeling pretty good. It’s funny, though. Dinner didn’t upset my stomach issues at all, but it did cause a little swelling in my knee and foot. I am wayyy sensitive these days to soy and wheat. Amazingly so. So, today, I’m back on plan. This cycles attack seems to be behind me, so for that I am thankful. Just real life things that I am contending with along the journey. I’m just happy to be an owner of things, and no longer a victim.
Shrinking Shay 